$300,000 or more of the city's CapitalOne money has been spent on consultants and other things on new economic development initiative

Nov. 16, 2013

Jeff Mitchell / The Salinas Californian

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Under the Dome

Although it’s fair to say that former Mayor Dennis Donohue and I never quite saw eye to eye on a lot of things related to the city or on governmental transparency, I have no problem admitting I’ve always been a fan of the big feller’s municipal vision.

Donohue was always good with the big picture stuff and in articulating Salinas’ role on the regional, state, national and even global stage. I also liked him because he dared us all to dream big – remember 2006’s “Imagine a Great City?”

So I am wondering today about one of Donohue’s biggest visions to date – one that he made public on the day he gave his farewell speech on Dec. 14, 2012 at the Maya Cineplex – the Steinbeck Innovation Cluster program.

This plan was hatched to find a way to formally marry the high-technology of Silicon Valley with Salinas Valley’s $4 billion agriculture industry in a way that would create thousands of jobs and usher in a new era of prosperity.

The money to pay for this would-be shotgun marriage would come from the puny $1.6 million fund the city shamed out of CapitalOne after it dumped Salinas and about 800 employees for – wait for it – Sioux Falls, S.D. (Yes, South Dakota. Argh.)

But even as much as 12 months before Donohue publicly announced the cluster, the city was working with über consultant John Hartnett and his Irish Innovation Center group which does business here in the states as Silicon Valley Gateway Partners.

Now I understand that you’re not going to “high tech-nify” the verdant fields of the Salinas Valley into the “smart farms of tomorrow” overnight. You’re not going to see drone scarecrows out there. It’s just ain’t going to happen anytime soon.

The cluster non-profit foundation did offer up one interesting class this year designed to train young entrepreneurs on how to pitch investors. The program was offered in conjunction with the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kauffman Foundation.

OK, cool. Check off that box.

But certainly by now I think that, given the money that’s been spent on Hartnett and the cluster, we would have seen a few more tangible results. Some of us were under the impression that, by now, we’d see some sort of actual bricks-and-mortar business incubator facility would be up and running and that real inroads to changing the way our food is grown would be upon us.

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Moreover, I thought for sure we’d be hearing at least rumors of bigtime venture capitalists making the rounds of the area.

But really, not so much. Not yet at least.

And, please, can we stop hanging our hat on this “feel good” Coder Dojo stuff? I mean the idea of training our local kids to learn how write code for computer programs is great and needed. But no matter how well intentioned, the organizing of a youth club isn’t exactly going to ignite a regional economy or create jobs. (It may some day, but not any time soon.)

So, again, what has the cluster done for the city or the valley?

One thing that has happened, however, is that the city has spent a ton of your money on the program to date.

According to records obtained by The Californian through the California Public Records Act, the city has spent well north of $300,000 of its CapitalOne money to Hartnett and associates, with invoices going out of City Hall at $15,000 a clip or more per month.

Now it may turn out that every dime put into this particular consultant’s coffers was and is money well spent. The so-called “ROI” or return on investment may well be worth it.

But just remember, the money CapitalOne left us to help its displaced workers and to help patch the giant smoking hole it left in the Salinas economy really wasn’t remotely close to enough or all that much.

At the rate we seem to be spending it, it will be gone fast.

For that reason I think City Council ought to order a complete public audit of how the bank’s money (and for that matter, any co-mingled city cash) has been used to date.

After all, doesn’t CapitalOne famously ask in its commercials, “What’s in your wallet?”

It’s time to find out.

Homeless warming shelter watch: Day 28

Friday marked the 28th day that the Salinas City Council and the Monterey County Board of Supervisors failed to take action to oversee the creation and organization of a winter warming shelter for area homeless people in Salinas.

Jeff Mitchell covers Salinas Valley politics and government. Under the Dome, an opinion column, appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in print and online. For quick political hits, check out Under the Dome – The Blog available most every day at: www.theCalifornian.com